The characterization of Italian music is always a flowing movement, no matter how slow things goes, no matter how slow the rhythm. #MariaCallas

I don't need the money, dear. I work for art. #MariaCallas

All those little notes all the legatos all the everything that comes with music is what you call technique. An instrumentalist knows how to make his notes well with the proper intonation because intonation is also a necessity to technique. #MariaCallas

To sing is an expression of your being, a being which is becoming. #MariaCallas

It takes a little more time to get into the role, but not very much more. In making a record you don't have the sense of projection over a distance as in an opera house. We have this microphone and this magnifies all details of a performance, all exaggerations. #MariaCallas

I am not an angel and do not pretend to be. That is not one of my roles. But I am not the devil either. I am a woman and a serious artist, and I would like so to be judged. #MariaCallas

That is the difference between good teachers and great teachers: good teachers make the best of a pupil's means; great teachers foresee a pupil's ends. #MariaCallas

First I lost weight, then I lost my voice, and now I've lost Onassis. #MariaCallas

In other words, sing exactly as it's written, nothing more, nothing less, which is the phrase that I call straight jacketing, faster infinitely strictly how the composer wrote it. #MariaCallas

On the whole there are two people in me. I would like to be Maria, but there is the Callas that I have to live up to. #MariaCallas

There must be a law against forcing children to perform at an early age. Children should have a wonderful childhood. They should not be given too much responsibility. #MariaCallas

[On Trills] A trill is a necessity this is the equipment that goes with our instrument. In these operas that we preform abbellimenti must be dealt with physically and technically. One must have these to serve the music and be an honest musician. #MariaCallas

When my enemies stop hissing, I shall know I'm slipping. #MariaCallas

If you really care to look into the music, it was always. We will always find a trill or an embellishment or a scale that justifies an expression of feeling of happiness or unhappiness of uneasiness anxiety. There is always a reason for such thing. #MariaCallas

The critics said that I was tired at the end of Traviata but I took it as a compliment because I struggled to find this tired quality for her and it's dangerous. #MariaCallas

I am not an angel and do not pretend to be. That is not one of my roles. But I am not a devil, either. I am a woman and a serious artist, and I would like so to be judged. #MariaCallas

Trills are necessary and they have to be well performed. Take Trovatore; Verdi and Donizetti used a lot of trills. They used them to express feelings so a trill is necessary as a technical skill for an interpreter. #MariaCallas

I don’t like listening to myself – I don’t like the kind of voice I have. #MariaCallas

I prepare myself for rehearsals like I would for marriage. #MariaCallas

I dislike when critics treat me so cruelly because I know exactly what I do – I even know what I do worse! – I tear myself even more to pieces. I dislike being told that I should do this or I should do that. I know far too well what I should do. #MariaCallas

They have taught me, and life has taught me that the last act is the most important, because, no matter how much and how well you've sung on the very few one or two or three to four first acts. #MariaCallas

If I have stepped on some people at times because I am at the top, it couldn't be helped. What should I do if someone gets hurt... retire? #MariaCallas

What Tulio Serafin said that impressed me was: "When one wants to find a gesture, when you want to find how to act on stage, all you have to do is listen to the music. The composer has already seen to that." #MariaCallas

What is there in life if you do not work? There is only sensation, and there are only a few sensations— you cannot live on them. You can only live on work, by work, through work. How can you live with self-respect if you do not do things as well as lies in you? #MariaCallas

My Traviata has changed frequently my Norma more or less not much. #MariaCallas

Being honest is a hell of a price to pay, you might be... misunderstood, hated, attacked and I have not been able to fight back. It hurts... because it is unjust, the world is full of unjustness... #MariaCallas

The only thing I can say is that people who don't like me can just not come and hear me. #MariaCallas

You are born an artist or you are not. And you stay an artist, dear, even if your voice is less of a fireworks. The artist is always there. #MariaCallas

I am embarrassed by compliments. I cannot have the same perception of myself as the public has. I cannot judge myself and I have a hard time realizing what I have done. But if you manage to persuade and to thrill the public then you have won. #MariaCallas

Trills are necessary and they have to be well performed. Take Trovatore; Verdi and Donizetti used a lot of trills. They used them to express feelings so a trill is necessary as a technical skill for an interpreter. #MariaCallas

All those little notes all the legatos all the everything that comes with music is what you call technique. An instrumentalist knows how to make his notes well with the proper intonation because intonation is also a necessity to technique. #MariaCallas

The characterization of Italian music is always a flowing movement, no matter how slow things goes, no matter how slow the rhythm. #MariaCallas

Forget that you're singing - and these are the values - respect the values we try to be free for a minute. If you spoke these phrases, how would you speak them according to Bellinis style. #MariaCallas

What I learned from Sarafine was that you must serve music, because music is so enormous and can envelop you into such a state of perpetual anxiety and torture, but it is our first and main duty. #MariaCallas

You should wear longer skirts slacks on a theater. The public that looks at you from down there sees a little more that you might want. #MariaCallas

I would not kill my enemies, but I will make them get down on their knees. I will, I can, I must. #MariaCallas

What am I? Is she only machines singing? No, she's a human being. I need help too. Life they say is terrible. Of course life is terrible, if we make it that way. #MariaCallas

First I lost weight, then I lost my voice, and now I've lost Onassis. #MariaCallas

The full dress rehearsal, so there's no stopping unless it's something terribly, just like a performance with the critics, so you sing throughout with no interruption as it was a performance. #MariaCallas

Rehearsals absolutely must sing in full voice for your own sake, for your colleagues sake and the main thing is to test your own possibilities. #MariaCallas

I don't think much of my talent. Uh, I didn't even think I had a voice... I always used to sing for pleasure. I never even dreamed of having to have a career as a singer. #MariaCallas

If you take the trouble to really listen with your soul and with your ears - and I say soul and ears because the mind must work, but not too much also - you will find every gesture there. And it is all true, you know. #MariaCallas

Don't talk to me about rules, dear. Wherever I stay I make the goddam rules. #MariaCallas

On the whole there are two people in me. I would like to be Maria, but there is the Callas that I have to live up to. #MariaCallas

That is the difference between good teachers and great teachers: good teachers make the best of a pupil's means; great teachers foresee a pupil's ends. #MariaCallas

What is there in life if you do not work? There is only sensation, and there are only a few sensations— you cannot live on them. You can only live on work, by work, through work. How can you live with self-respect if you do not do things as well as lies in you? #MariaCallas

You always have to be the performer and function of the composer that the public will listen to and you must make it success. #MariaCallas

The only thing I can say is that people who don't like me can just not come and hear me. #MariaCallas

I am not an angel and do not pretend to be. That is not one of my roles. But I am not the devil either. I am a woman and a serious artist, and I would like so to be judged. #MariaCallas

My Traviata has changed frequently my Norma more or less not much. #MariaCallas